It has become common practice for operators of motor vehicles, particularly automobiles, to consume beverages while driving. These beverages are typically consumed from cups. Many of these cups include a foot member which, when attached to a compatible footholder, will prevent the cup from being overturned. It has also become common for foodstuffs or smoking materials, such as a doughnut or a cigarette, respectively, to be consumed along with the beverage contained within the cup. Utensils, such as a stirring stick, may be used to mix sweetener or other additives with the beverage. Spillage can occur if the cup is overfilled or if the vehicle encounters a bump or pothole. Additionally, the driver may create debris such as a soiled napkin, an empty additive package or a spent match. At present there is no convenient surface in close proximity to the footed cup for receiving and containing foodstuffs, utensils, debris or other items normally associated with the drinking of a beverage. If not contained, debris such as ashes, frosting, sugar coating, grease or crumbs may soil the interior of the vehicle by falling onto the seats or the floorboard. Additionally the debris may cause odors, produce unsightly stains on the upholstery or floor covering, attract insects or give a generally undesirable untidy appearance to the interior of the vehicle.
Several attempts have been made to provide tray devices which will contain both cups and foodstuffs, spillage, utensils or debris. These tray devices have been typically mounted to the vehicle in a relatively permanent fashion. They usually incorporate a hole or well for the insertion and retention of a beverage container and a flat surface or space for the receipt of foodstuffs, spillage, utensils or debris.
Representative of some typical motor vehicle tray devices providing both a place for receiving beverage containers and a space for receiving foodstuffs and the like, are U.S. Pat. No. 2,689,156 to Kolander; U.S. Pat. No. 2,829,779 to Weddington; U.S. Pat. No. Re. 27,688 to White, et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,174,669 to Lilonde; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,359,004 to Chappell. Each one of the aforementioned motor vehicle tray devices provides both a hole or well for the insertion of beverage containers and spaces or surfaces for the receipt of foodstuffs, utensils or debris. These devices are limited in their usefulness as they are specially designed to be either positioned on or fastened to a vehicle seat or mounted to saddle the driveshaft hump. The design of the tray devices for use in motor vehicles has been based on the particular configuration of the vehicle interior rather than on what would be most convenient for the driver or the passenger.
When a tray representative of the prior art is secured on a dashboard and a cup or cup holder is then secured to the tray, the tray cannot be easily removed separately from the cup or cup holder for cleaning. Likewise, the tray cannot be rotated to the best position for the driver or alternatively the the best position for a passenger, irrespective of the vehicle dashboard configuration.
The problem still remains in the art to provide a dashboard tray device that is both mountable on vehicle surfaces that are in close proximity to both the cup and the driver or passenger and at the same time will receive and contain foodstuffs, utensils, spillage, smoking materials, change or the like. Additionally, the tray device must be easily removable for cleaning but be compatible with separate securing means such as a holder for a footed beverage container. Adapability to utilization with a wide variety of dashboard configurations must be assured by making the tray positionable with respect to the footholder for the footed beverage container.
Additionally, the surface upon which the foodstuffs, utensils or debris is placed should be easily separable from the footholder for the footed beverage container so that it may be conveniently cleaned.